Artist David Wilson draws inspiration from Instagram

Wilson’s new series of paintings demonstrates the subtle interface between reality and filtered reality. It’s an important distinction in the age of fake news and doctored images, but also a deeper comment on how the filters of memory or mood inform our everyday perceptions.

Wilson, best known for depicting Vancouver, has turned to Instagram – and to other cities — in building this body of work. “I pulled thousands of wet street scenes from places like New York, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, and London. I was trying to connect that rainy Vancouver aesthetic with these other places, and to focus on commonalities rather than the iconic landmarks of each place.” Similarly Instagram curates diverse images from around the world, bringing places together in the online depository.

Users of Instagram edit their images by adding filters, in contract to the traditional meaning of a filter, to remove part of it – like when you filter coffee grounds. Wilson says he does “a little of each” when he works up an image. His process is both reductive and expansive, removing elements of realism by adding brushstrokes of paint. “I’m essentially re-interpreting. It’s my own perception – based on my life experience.”

See for yourself how the artists interprets the landscape with inspiration of Instagram. David Wilson “Interrupting the Interface” opens Thursday September 7th and runs until September 30, 2017 at Kimoto Gallery, 1525 West 6th (at Granville).